A New Life
by Kohaku Uzumaki
Summary: Naruto, Kohaku OC, and Tenten are orphanes, until Naruto and Tenten get adopted to the Hyuga family, and Kohaku gets adopted to the Inuzuka family. They all move to Kohona to start a new life and thats when things get interesting. NXH OCXK NXT
1. Chapter 1

**An: Hello again, I hope you guys like this new story, I tried to do something a little bit different so I hop you like it!**

"Talking" 'thinking' **explaining**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto even though I really want to (anime tears)**

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**Chapter 1****: Separation**

"N-nii-san, Tenten-chan I don't think we should be doing this," said a 5 year old girl with bright blond hair and sapphire blue eyes as she tried to talk her twin brother and best friend out of their latest prank.

"Don't worry so much nee-san, it'll be fine," reassured a boy with blond hair and sapphire blue eyes as he turned toward his sister with a bright smile on his face.

"Yeah Kohaku-chan, it'll be fine," said a 6 year old Tenten as she started to play with the dials on one of the ovens in the kitchen they were in.

"But what if Ms. Twits comes again," said Kohaku as she sunk into a chair with fear shown across her face.

"Than we run as fast as we can and try not to get separated," said Naruto as he walked up to his sister and gave her a small hug.

**Right now Naruto, Kohaku and Tenten are living in an orphanage in the rain village. Their parents all died in house fires when they were 3 and 4 years old. Ms. Twits is the head of the orphanage but is a mean lady that won't hesitate to hit the children when they do something bad. Tenten is 6 years old now while Naruto and Kohaku are both 5 years old. Tenten and Naruto love to pull pranks whenever they can and Kohaku just tags along. Kohaku is the weakest one so whenever Ms. Twits finds out about what they have done it's usually Kohaku that gets punished the most but Tenten and Naruto try to help and protect her whenever they can. Their dream is that they want to all be ninjas and protect their loved ones.**

**Right now they are in the kitchen where the maids make the food trying to pull another prank on the poor maids.**

"O-ok," said Kohaku as she smiled at her brother and friend, "I don't know what I would do if we ever got separated."

"Me neither," said Naruto.

"Than lets vow to never get separated!" said Tenten has she put her hand out.

"Hai!" said the Uzumaki twins as they to put their hands on top of Tenten's.

"Now," said Naruto, "let's get back to this prank of ours."

"Ok!" yelled Tenten as she ran over to the ovens and started turning dials and pressing buttons.

"I don't think you should do that Tenten-chan," said Kohaku as she watched her friend play with the ovens.

"Its fine Kohaku-chan," said Tenten, "It's not like I'm going to……..

**BOOM!!!!!!!!!!**

"….blow it up." Said Tenten as she finished her sentence looking around at the once was kitchen.

**SS**

"What was that?" asked Ms. Twits to her secretary as she looked up from the work she was doing.

"I have no idea ma'am," said her secretary Karin.

As soon as she said that a maid burst into the office without knocking. "The kitchen, it's a mess," she said as she stood in the doorway heaving a panting.

"What happened?" asked Ms. Twits as she stood up from her desk and walked over to the maid.

"It seemed that the Uzumaki's and Tenten have pulled another prank," answered the maid.

"Those trouble makers" growled Ms. Twits as she walked out of the room with Karin and the maid following behind her, "they need to be taught a lesson and I'm the one to do it. "

"But they are just kids," said the maid as she tried to persuade Ms. Twits.

"No buts," said Ms. Twits, "even if they are kids they should be taught a lesson."

"Oh," said the maid under her breath as she looked down with a sad face.

**SS**

"The k-kitchen is a mess y-you guys," said Kohaku as she looked around as the once was kitchen.

"Well it wasn't my fault this time," said Naruto as he looked over at Tenten who was still frozen in shock.

"We better clean this up before anyone f-finds out," said Kohaku as she started to clean up.

"Shhhh!!!!!" whispered Naruto, "I think I hear someone coming."

They quieted down as they listened. Sure enough they could hear footsteps and yelling.

"I want this mess cleaned up!" yelled the voice, "NOW!!!!"

"Oh no, it's Ms. Twits," said Kohaku as a look of pure horror came on her face. "W-we got t-to h-hide!"

Naruto and Kohaku ran out the backdoor and into the field behind the house. They both stopped suddenly as they remembered something important.

They both looked at each other and yelled "TENTEN!!"

They both started to run back into the kitchen when Naruto stopped and turned around to his sister.

"Kohaku," he said as he looked at her, "you should stay here; I'll go and get Tenten."

"No nii-san I want to go too," insisted Kohaku as she started to walk to the door.

Naruto stopped her again, "It's too dangerous I don't want you to get hurt, please stay here," he begged.

"O-ok," said Kohaku as she looked at her brother with a small smile on her face.

"Good," said Naruto as he smiled at his sister, "I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise," he said as he turned around and started to run towards the house.

'Nii-san please come back,' thought Kohaku as she watched her brother.

**SS**

Naruto made it to the kitchen just as Tenten got over her shock.

"W-What happened?" was all that she said as she looked over at Naruto.

Naruto could hear that the voices and footsteps were getting closer every second, "C'mon Tenten we have to get out of here quickly!" He said as he started to pull Tenten towards the door.

"Why?" asked Tenten a she looked at Naruto with a look of confusion on her face.

"Because Ms. Twits is coming and we got to hide," he explained.

But as soon as Naruto said that Ms. Twits burst into the room with Karin and all the maids behind her. "So I caught you," was what she said as she looked over at Tenten and Naruto," so you are the troublemakers behind this mess." "You will have to get punished," she said as she snapped her fingers.

Two maids came over and grabbed the terrified kids as they looked over at Ms. Twits.

"We are sorry, Naruto and Tenten," whispered the maids as they looked over at them.

"Take them to my office," said Ms. Twits as she turned and walked out of the kitchen.

The maids followed her down to her office where they than sat the kids on the chairs and left the room.

"So you think you can just blow up the kitchen and than not get a punishment?" asked Ms. Twits as she sat at her desk watching the children.

"I-It was an accident ma'am," said Naruto as Tenten sat there not moving at all.

"That is not an excuse," said Ms. Twits as she leered at them," you are to get punished for your misbehaving."

Both the young children flinched as they remembered all the other punishments they had on them before.

"You two for blowing up the kitchen will receive…" started Ms. Twits as she was about to tell them of their punishment when all of a sudden a knock on the door was heard.

"What is it," growled Ms. Twits as she looked up with anger on her face towards the door.

A young maid opened the door and said, "Ma'am there are people here who want to adopt two kids."

"Oh," said Ms. Twits as her face changed from anger to happiness in a blink, "send them in."

"Of course ma'am," said the maid as she closed the door behind her.

Ms. Twits looked down at the two kids before her and said, "you guys go and stand in the corner and don't make any sound.

Naruto and Tenten both stood up and walked over to the corner of the room just as the door opened and two identical looking men stepped into the room with two kids at their heels.

"Good day ma'am," said the man on the left.

"Good day sirs, I hear that you want to adopt two children today," said Ms. Twits as she stood up to greet the men.

"Yes we would like to adopt a boy and a girl that are around our children's age," said the other man as he gestured to the two children standing beside them.

"Oh, how sweet," said Ms. Twits as she tried to look sweet and nice, "and how old are your children?"

"Hinata is 5 while my boy Neji is one year older."

"Ahh and who would you guys be?" asked Ms. Twits as she sat back down at her desk.

"We are Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga," said Hiashi to Ms. Twits.

Ms. Twits just sat there for a couple of seconds in shock before she composed herself and said, "Such nobleman I will find you just the perfect children for you to adopt."

"Thank you ma'am," said Hizashi.

While all of this was happening Naruto and Tenten were silently giggling and watching with interest. They were watching the two children that were always standing by their father's sides listening to the conversation. Suddenly the little girl looked up and saw the two children standing in the corner. She thought they looked around her and her cousin's age. One was a boy and the other was a girl, she thought they looked lonely just standing there in the corner she immediately wanted to go and say hi to them.

"F-father," she said gently tugging on her father's sleeve.

"What is it Hinata?" Hiashi asked as he looked down at his daughter.

"Why are t-those two k-kids standing i-in the corner of t-the room?" she asked.

Hiashi looked up and noticed the two kids standing at the back of the room. They were just standing there looking straight back at him. The boy he noticed had bright blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, and 3 whisker marks on each cheek. He looked to be about 5 years old, while the girl looked to be around one year older. She had her chestnut hair in two buns on her head, and her hazelnut eyes were boring into his eyes. They both were wearing rags and were all dirty.

Hiashi turned to Ms. Twits and said, "Why are those two children just standing there?"

Ms. Twits turned around to look at Naruto and Tenten with fire in her eyes before she turned around to look at the two Huyga's. "Oh they are just there because they are getting punished for what they did," she explained.

"Well if it wouldn't be too much trouble could they come over and talk to us?" asked Hizashi as he also looked at the two children.

"Well…," said Ms. Twits as she looked at the most richest people in Kohona, "Yes, yes they could."

She turned towards Naruto and Tenten, "C'mon get over here and be polite!!" she almost yelled at them.

Hiashi and Hizashi looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Naruto and Tenten walked towards the two men with small smiles on their faces.

"Hello, kind gentlemen," said Naruto as he bowed. "H-hello," said Tenten as she tried to do a curtsey.

Hiashi and Hizashi smiled at the two children while Hinata and Neji stared at the kids with curiosity.

"What are your names children?" asked Hiashi.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this is Tenten," said Naruto as he pointed to himself than Tenten.

"Hello Naruto and Tenten," said Hizashi as he got lower to their level, "do you know how old you are?"

"Yes we do," said Tenten as she grew more confident, "I'm 6 while Naruto here is 5."

Hiashi and Hizashi smiled at each other as they looked at the two children.

Neji wanted to know more about the girl who was his age so he said, "do you know any tricks with chakra?"

Naruto and Tenten looked at the boy with surprise on their faces. That's also when they noticed the small girl who was half hiding behind her father's leg.

"Actually we don't, but we always wanted to train to become ninjas," said Tenten as she told the boy.

"Yes, but," said Naruto as he joined in, "Tenten can throw a knife at a target and hit bull's-eye every time and I can quite easily run up trees using no hands at all," he bragged.

'Such promising talent,' thought Hiashi, "Ms. Twits, we would like to adopt these two children."

"WHAT!!" yelled Ms. Twits as she looked at Hiashi like she was crazy. She looked over at Hizashi who immediately agreed with his twin brother.

"You heard my brother Ms. Twits please help us adopt them and we will be on our way," said Hizashi.

'This is my chance to get rid of the two troublemakers and only have the weaker one,' thought Ms. Twits as she looked at the Hyuga's. "Right away good sirs."

Naruto and Tenten looked up at the two men with smiles on their faces. "Are you really going to adopt us?" asked Naruto as if he didn't hear them right.

"Yes we are Naruto and Tenten," said Hizashi.

"YES!!!!" they both yelled as they danced around the room.

Suddenly Naruto stopped; he ran back to the men "Wait are you going to adopt my twin sister too?" he asked them.

Hiashi and Hizashi stared down at the young boy with surprise on their faces, "Your twin sister?" they asked.

"Yes, her name is Kohaku Uzumaki, are you going to adopt her too?"

Hiashi and Hizashi looked over at Ms. Twits, "You never told us that he had a twin sister."

"Ops," was all that Ms. Twits said as she continued with the adoption papers.

They looked back at the boy," We are sorry Naruto but we only wanted to adopt 2 kids, one that was a 5 year old boy and another that was a 6 year old girl. And you too are the ones we want to adopt."

Naruto looked at the two men like they were crazy before he started to cry. "I won't leave my sister behind!"

Tenten also looked at the men, "you either take all of us or none of us," she said as she crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry children but your papers are all ready to go it looks like you two will be adopted with young Kohaku stays with me," said Ms. Twits with an evil smile on as she looked at the children.

Hiashi went over to Naruto, "we are sorry Naruto, but we promise you that you will see your sister again," he said as he went to hug the child.

While Hiashi was doing that, Hizashi went over to Ms. Twits and signed the papers claiming that Naruto and Tenten were now officially adopted into the Hyuga family.

"Before we go can I at least say goodbye to my nee-chan?" asked Naruto as he looked up at Hiashi.

He looked at the child with a small smile on his face and said," Of course Naruto."

Naruto smiled at his adopted dad and ran out of the room. "Excuse me sir, but can I go to?" asked Tenten as she looked at Hizashi.

"Of course you can Tenten," he said. At that Tenten also ran out the door following Naruto.

**SS**

"Where could nii-san be?" asked Kohaku as she paced the garden growing more worried by the second.

Suddenly a cry was heard," NEE-SAN!"

Kohaku looked up and saw her brother running towards her. She started to run towards him as well and they met halfway in a hug.

"Brother, were have you been?" asked Kohaku as she stepped out of the hug to look at her brothers face.

"I got news Kohaku!" Naruto almost yelled.

"What is it Nii-san?"

"We got adopted!" said Naruto with a face between happiness and sadness.

"That's awesome brother!!" said Kohaku with a huge smile on her face as she looked at her brother. Her smile faded when she saw her brother's face was filled with sadness.

"What wrong brother?" she asked, "We all are getting adopted together it's great!"

"Well Tenten and I got adopted," Naruto tried to explain to his sister.

"What do you mean?"

As soon as Kohaku said that Tenten came running up to them with a look of sadness also across her face.

"I'm sorry Kohaku, we tried to stop them," she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Kohaku.

"Only I and Tenten got adopted, they would not adopt you," said Naruto as he looked down at the ground.

"WHAT! That can't be true!" she yelled as she stared at her brother and best friend but they would not look her in the eye.

"We are sorry Kohaku," they both said as they looked at her with tears in their eyes.

Kohaku started to cry as she looked at her brother and friend. She hugged them as tight as she could and said," Don't forget about me, I won't forget about you."

"We won't we promise," They said as they hugged her back

"Kohaku I have something for you," said Naruto as they started to let go of each other.

"What is it brother?" asked Kohaku.

Naruto reached up around his neck and took off the necklace that he always wears, "its mom's necklace," he said as he handed it to his sister.

"B-but you never take off the n-necklace!" said Kohaku as she took the necklace from her brother and stared at him in amazement.

"I know, but I decided to let you have it that way you will always think of me," explained Naruto.

"T-thank you nii-san," whispered Kohaku as she smiled at her brother and put on the necklace.

"Tenten-chan, Naruto-chan its time to go home!" yelled Hiashi as he found the three children.

"Ok sir!" yelled back Tenten as she hugged Kohaku and said, "I will never forget you Kohaku and I hope we will see each other again."

"I hope so too Tenten-chan," said Kohaku as Tenten let go and started to run towards her new family with tears in her eyes.

Kohaku turned towards her brother who was looking at her with sadness in his eyes. She gave him a hug and whispered, "I hope we get united again soon nii-san."

"We will I promise," said Naruto as he let go of the hug and started to follow Tenten.

Kohaku watched as they all got in the carriage and drove off. 'I will never forget you nii-san,' said Kohaku as she touched the necklace, took one last look at the disappearing carriage and started to walk back into the orphanage.

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**An: Please review, if you do you may get a cookie! **

**An:By the way Kohaku is my character and if you want to know more about her just look at my profile. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**An: sorry for the long wait, too much homework, hope you forgive me! Just so you know Kohaku is now five-years older in this one than the last one. Hope you enjoy the story!!**

"Talking" 'thinking' **explaining/actions**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto except for Kohaku other than that none of the characters are mine :( (anime tears)**

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****Chapter 2: The Inuzukas**

"Kohaku, Mrs. Twits wants her lunch right away," yelled Yuki Sabusau.

"Hai, Yuki-san I will get right on it," yelled a blond-hair and blue-eyed 10- year old girl.

'It's been 5 years since that time…… when nii-san left me.'

_Flashback_

_She hugged them as tight as she could and said," Don't forget about me, I won't forget about you."_

_"We won't we promise," They said as they hugged her back_

_"Kohaku I have something for you," said Naruto as they started to let go of each other._

_"What is it brother?" asked Kohaku._

_Naruto reached up around his neck and took off the necklace that he always wears, "its mom's necklace," he said as he handed it to his sister._

_"B-but you never take off the n-necklace!" said Kohaku as she took the necklace from her brother and stared at him in amazement._

_"I know, but I decided to let you have it that way you will always think of me," explained Naruto._

_End Flashback_

'Naruto –nii-san…I hope he is doing ok, wherever he is," Kohaku thought as she touched at her mother's necklace which was always found around her neck.

**Since Naruto and Tenten left the orphanage, Kohaku has been working down in the kitchen far away from all the other boys and girls in the orphanage. She has been hiding Kohaku away from all the people and especially away from the parents that are trying to adopt a child. Mrs. Twits is making sure that Kohaku will stay in the orphanage her entire life. Right now Kohaku is going to take Mrs. Twits her lunch as she does everyday. (Yuki works with Kohaku in the kitchen and is like a mother to her)**

'I can't be late!' thought Kohaku as she ran up the stairs that led from the kitchen to the main room, 'if I'm late again Mrs. Twits will punish me!'

As Kohaku reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, she was so much into her own thoughts that she did not see the family that was just walking past the door towards the stairs that led to Mrs. Twit's office.

**BAM!!**

Kohaku crashed into the unsuspecting family with full force, but instead of her falling down and all the food crashing to the floor around her, Kohaku, to the amazement of the family and of herself was able to keep her balance and catch the 3 plates that she was carrying to Mrs. Twits. She was able keep her balance on her one foot that was still firmly on the floor and reach up and around the bewildered family to catch the three plates with such fast reflex's that someone would have thought that she was not human.

"S-Sorry about running i-into you m-ma'am," apologized Kohaku as she bowed to the family.

"It was quite alright, just an accident," said the mother to the still bowed Kohaku who did not want to look at the family.

"A-a-arigato," thanked Kohaku as she straightened from her bow to examine the family that she ran into.

She looked up and standing in front of her were a mother, a sister and a brother all standing there looking at her. The mother and sister (or at least what she thought was the sister) were looking at her with concern on their faces and the younger brother was staring at her with, what it looked like, curiosity.

What Kohaku found interesting about the family was that the mother, sister and brother all had two, red upside down triangles, one on each cheek.

Than she gasped, 'T-their wearing headbands,' she thought as she noticed the headbands around the foreheads of the mother and daughter. 'They must be ninjas; I just met real live ninjas' thought Kohaku getting excited.

Suddenly the daughter spoke, "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Y-yes I'm f-fine," said Kohaku as she readjusted the plates that she was balancing on her arms trying to find a more comfortable position to hold them in.

"Do you want any help carrying those plates?" asked the mother eyeing the three plates that Kohaku was trying to hold.

"N-no it's ok," she replied as she smiled up at the mother trying to reinsure her that she was ok.

"KOHAKU WHERE ARE YOU WITH MY LUNCH!!!" boomed a loud voice that came from the top of the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Oh no," whispered Kohaku, "she's going to kill me!"

"Who's going to kill you?"

Kohaku ignored the question, because if they knew she was talking about the lady that runs the orphanage they may not want to adopt a child and than she would get into even more trouble. So instead Kohaku started to run toward the staircase turning around to say, "N-nice to meet y-you!" and than running up the stairs.

"She's a very interesting girl," stated the sister.

"Yes she is," said the mother with a knowing smile upon her face.

"Did you notice the way that she was able to catch all those plates with not even one bit of food falling?"

"Do you think that she could be a ninja?" asked the little boy who only started to talk just now.

"I don't know, Kiba," said the mother, 'She does have promising talent though'

"Hey could we adopt her, she looks like a nice sister to me," asked the little boy as he looked up at his mother with puppy dog eyes.

"She did look about Kiba's age mom," stated the daughter as she looked at her mother with a hopeful expression on her face.

"I'll think about it," answered the mother with a blank look.

Kiba crossed his arms and looked at his mother with a scowl on his face.

"Now come on we do not want to be late for our interview," said the mother starting to walk towards the staircase that Kohaku ran up not 5 minutes ago.

**While all that was happening, Kohaku was up in Mrs. Twit's office.**

"WHERE WERE YOU WITH MY FOOD?" yelled Mrs. Twits as Kohaku arrived in the office and set down the three plates on top of her desk.

"Karin how late is young Kohaku?" she asked turning around to her secretary with an evil grin on her face.

"Around half an hour late ma'am," answered Karin turning around to look at Kohaku with a smug smile.

"B-but I w-was only 5 m-m-minutes late m-ma'am," stuttered Kohaku.

SHUT UP YOU WORTHLESS PEICE OF TRASH!" yelled Mrs. Twits, "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING BACK TO ME!"

"I-I did n-not talk b-back to y-you m-ma'am," whispered Kohaku.

**SLAP!!!**

Kohaku looked up at Mrs. Twits, tears slowly coming out of her eyes.

"Now where were we," Mrs. Twits said, "Oh yes about your punishment?

Kohaku silently whimpered knowing that there would be more pain to follow. This always happened to her; she always seemed to get in trouble no matter what she did. Mrs. Twits always seemed to like punishing her; it seemed that she wanted to see Kohaku whimper in pain.

"Now," she said turning around back towards Kohaku with an evil smile on her face, "your punishment for being half an hour late with my lunch will be….."

'I know that face, it means that she has something really bad in store for me, I hope its not having hot water put onto my skin, my burn still have not yet healed from the last time. Mother, father, brother please protect me and help me find a way out of this orphanage' thought Kohaku as she waited for Mrs. Twits to tell her, her punishment.

'Knock, knock," suddenly a knock sounded on the door.

**W**hat is it," growled Mrs. Twits looking towards the door with a look that could kill for the unsuspecting maid that just happened to knock on the door just before Mrs. Twits could name out the punishment for Kohaku.

"Excuse me Mrs. Twits," said a maid as she opened the door into Mrs. Twit's office, "Eep!" she squeaked as she caught a look at Mrs. Twits face. "T-there is a-a family t-that w-wants to a-adopt o-out h-here," she managed to get out while cowering and shaking behind the office door.

"Really?" asked Mrs. Twits going into her sweet caretaker of the orphanage look, "Send them in here please."

The maid silently closed the door behind her to tell the family to come on it.

"GO stand in the corner," instructed Mrs. Twits as she pointed towards a corner, "AND BE QUIET!"

"Y-yes m-ma'am," said Kohaku as she walked over to the corner, cradling her cheek in her hands, thanking the family that decided to come in that exact moment of time.

The door opened and a family stepped into the room, Kohaku gasped, it was the family that she had run into not even 10 minutes ago.

"Hello, you must be Mrs. Twits," said the mother formally as she went to shake Mrs. Twit's hand.

"Why yes I am," said Mrs. Twits shaking that mother's hand, trying to keep her sweet face on, "and who might you be?"

"My name is Tsume Inuzuka," said Tsume, as she stopped shaking Mrs. Twit's hand.

"Oh my, the Inuzuka clan, said Mrs. Twits with a look of awe on her face, "and I see you bought your children along."

"Yes I did, this is my daughter, Hana Inuzuka," introduced Tsume.

Hana Inuzuka bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"And this is my son, Kiba Inuzuka," she finished, as she pointed to the little boy that was standing to the right side of his mother.

"Hello ma'am," said Kiba Inuzuka as he also bowed his head.

Mrs. Twits smiled at the young boy, "so which kind of child are you looking to adopt today?"

"We would like to adopt a girl that is around the age of 10, so that Kiba can have a playmate," said Inuzuka.

"But it says here on your filled out form that you wanted to adopt a boy that was around 10 years of age not a girl," stated Mrs. Twits as she looked up at the family with a look of confusion on her face.

Tsume looked at her son and said, "Kiba decided that he wanted a sister instead of a brother."

Kiba's face looked up at his mother's with a huge smile as he knew what his mother was thinking.

"Ok than," said Mrs. Twits, "well that's just change that on your form than, just a minute please."

As Mrs. Twits was writing down the new information, Karin stepped in, "so do you have any preferences on what type of girl you would like to adopt," she asked the family.

"Well yes, I believe we do," answered Tsume. She spotted Kohaku standing in the corner of the room staring at her and her family. She winked at her, which made Kohaku startle and hide her face out of shyness.

"Really, can you explain the type of girl you are looking for and we will try to pick out a certain number and from there you can pick out the one you like the best," said Karin as she tried her best to smile sweetly at the family.

"Oh, there would be no need for that," she said.

"What!" It seemed that Mrs. Twits was secretly eavesdropping on their conversation and now she looked at the family with a look of confusion on her face.

"Yes, you heard me; we have already found the perfect girl who is to our liking."

"But, but how is that possible," exclaimed Mrs. Twits looking more confused by the minute.

"All the kids were outside in the playground when you came into the door," said Karin.

"Not ALL the kids," Tsume said supporting a knowing smile on her face.

Suddenly little Kiba spoke up, "the sister that I want is standing over in that corner," he said pointing to where young Kohaku was standing.

"Her?"

"Her?"

"M-me?"

Three looks of surprise stared at the Inuzuka.

"A-are you sure about this girl?" asked Mrs. Twits not believing that she may lose one of her best playthings, "don't you want to think about this?"

"Nope," replied Hana, "we are absolutely sure about this, we would like to adopt young Kohaku."

Kohaku stood there tears leaking out of her eyes, not believing that today she could finally escape this prison and go live with a real family.

Tsume looked over at Kohaku and smiled at her warmly, she beckoned Kohaku over with a wave of her hand. Kohaku saw this and slowly started to walk over to her new family. But before she could make it over to them, Mrs. Twits but her arm out in Kohaku's way and stopped her.

"You may never take Kohaku away from me!" she growled at the family as she grabbed Kohaku to her.

"You have no choice but to give her to me," Tsume growled, she snapped her fingers, there was a whish of movement and suddenly she had a kunai at Mrs. Twits throat pinning her down on her desk. While Hana was behind Karin pinning her arms back behind her.

"We can do this the hard way," said Tsume as she pushed the kunai more forcefully into Mrs. Twit's neck and Hana following suit twisted Karin's arms behind her back, "or the easy way," she finished.

Mrs. Twits finally let go of Kohaku so that she could try to use her arms to push Tsume off of her.

"Kohaku come here out of the way!" yelled Kiba who started to jump up and down to get her attention.

Kohaku who was now fully crying because of the scene around her ran over to Kiba and not even thinking about it ran into his arms. Kiba was shocked, 'she is hugging me,' he thought as he looked down at Kohaku. After a couple of seconds Kiba decided to put his arms around her and pull her close to him trying to comfort the crying girl.

Mrs. Twits could now feel the blade of the kunai sink slowly into her skin, she panicked and said, "Ok, ok you have a deal, you can have the girl, but please don't kill me!"

Grinning Tsume and Hana let go of them and went to go talk to Kohaku who was now slowly starting to stop crying.

"Are you ok, love?" Tsume asked.

"Yes, I-I'm fine n-now……um," she said as she walked out of Kiba's embrace and looked over at the mother.

"Just call me mom," Tsume said.

At this Kohaku smiled more brightly than she ever had since her brother and friend were taken away from her.

"And you can call me sis," said Hana as she smiled at the 10 year old girl.

Kohaku looked over at Kiba. Kiba looked up with a hint of a blush on his cheeks and said, "Kiba."

"Ok…K-Kiba," said Kohaku as she looked at her new family and smiled.

"The paper works are all done Miss. Inuzuka," said Mrs. Twits breaking them out of their family moment, "Kohaku is now officially an Inuzuka."

The Inuzuka family all smiled and hugged their newest member. Tsume walked over to Mrs. Twits and while smiling sweetly took the paper work from her signed and then took her copy.

"Let's go Kohaku," she said as she walked over to her now bigger family."

"Ok," said Kohaku as she was led out the door by Kiba and Hana, Tsume walking directly behind them.

"God," said Mrs. Twits as she rested her head on her desk, 'I lost another of my playthings,' she thought as she looked toward the door.

**SS**

"Wow, are w-we riding o-on this?" asked Kohaku as she looked at a beautiful carriage with two white horses reined up on it.

"Of course," said Tsume laughing, "how else are we going to get to Kohona?

"K-Kohona, what's t-that?"

"Ha, ha, that's where we live silly," said Kiba as he playfully hit Kohaku on the head.

"Oh."

"Let's go kids," said Hana, "we don't have all day here," as she ushered the two kids toward the carriage doors.

"Ok, ok, you don't have to push sis," said a very annoyed Kiba as he slipped under his sister's arm and ran toward the carriage pulling the door open and hoping inside.

"C'mon, Kohaku!" he yelled from inside the carriage.

"C-coming," said Kohaku as she walked towards the carriage and walked inside. "W-wow this i-is huge," she exclaimed as she looked at the inside of the carriage.

Soon everyone was sited inside the carriage comfortable, having Kohaku and Kiba on one side and Hana and Tsume on the other. The carriage started to pull away from the orphanage.

'Hmm, a new life, a new beginning, I wonder what will happen to me this time?' she thought as she slowly started to fall asleep listening to her new family arguing away.

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**Please reveiw, I will give you a cookie! :) hehe**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So here is the new chapter, hopefully you guys like it. I worked really hard on it :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, if I did Gaara would be mine!!**

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****Chapter 3: Welcome to Konoha**

"….Kohaku …Kohaku...Wake up! Wake up!"

"Hmmmmm?" said the 10 year old young girl as she slowly lifted her face off of the carriage window from where she had decided to nap. She sat up and lifted her slightly muscled tan arms above her head as she stretched the sleep out of her body. She looked at the person that had awoken her up from her slumber.

"What, who, where, when, why?" the young girl's bright blue eyes found chocolate brown ones as she found herself nose to nose to her new brother, ginning widely at her.

"Well, I, Kiba, woke you up, we are now in Konoha, the time is now, and because we wanted you to see your new town," replied Kiba answering all of her questions.

Tsume and Hana were laughing at the two young kids.

"Huh?" Kohaku's eyes traveled over to the women as she tried to understand why they were laughing at her and Kiba

"We..are..now…in..Konoha," Kiba spoke so slowly acting like she was a deaf person.

"I..can..understand….you."Kohaku huffed crossing her arms and becoming very angry towards Kiba for making her feel like an idiot.

She turned her head toward the window. A grin spread on her face as she finally realised why Kiba had woke her up. Outside she saw Konoha, with all of its beauty. She looked up at the sky trying to figure out what time of the day it was, the sun was still quite high up in the sky showering its light across the peaceful town, so according to her calculations it was about mid afternoon. Kohaku's eyes traveled down toward the town and gasped in surprise. The town was such a beautiful town, the tiny little houses and stores lining up the cobbled walkway with trees in between, made the town look more like a dream to Kohaku.

As Kohaku widely stared around the town, trying to take everything in at once, she spotted some little toddlers out playing in the sandbox. It was then that she realised that she had been so busy taking in the scenery that she had forgotten all about the people! There looked to be hundreds of people everywhere that Kohaku looked; some were doing errand, or have a peaceful stroll or even out with their family/friends. Kohaku longed to be out there with the people enjoying the beautiful day and not sitting in a carriage looking in at the outside world.

As Kohaku continued to look out the window at a whole new world she noticed that some of the people that they past were smiling and waving at her. Overjoyed that the people were accepting her into their town, she immediately stuck her whole head out of the window waving to almost every single one of the people, trying her best to please them so that they would accept her even more.

"Kohaku stop waving for a minute and turn around so I can talk to you," said Tsume as she watched Kohaku waving at the people.

Kohaku sighed and turned around, hating the fact that she had to stop looking at the new and interesting world.

"Good," said Tsume as Kohaku faced completely around to look at her, "I have something important to tell you."

"What is it," she almost growled still angry at her new mother for taking her away from the village.

"When we get to your new house there will be something that may surprise you."

"What, what is it?"

"There are……………….."

The carriage suddenly stopped making all of its inhabitants fall over in surprise, "We have arrived Mrs. Inuzuka."

"Thank you Tegoshi," said Tsume as she stood up wincing before proceeding to walk out of the carriage.

"Wait, Tsume!" Kohaku ran out of the carriage trying to catch up to the walking women.

"I told you call me mom," Tsume replied as they walked up a lane surrounded by trees.

"Okay, _mom_, what did you want to warn me about?"

"It was nothing, Kohaku, besides you will find out soon enough." She replied as they came to a stop in front of a two story house painted a very light but beautiful dusty yellow. There was a garden all around the house. It seems that Tsume and Hana had planted flowers all the colours of the rainbow all over their garden, making the place look like there are tons of little candies all around it! At the back of the house there was trees galore, giving shade and making a good contrast to the colourful garden in the front.

"Wow," Kohaku smiled at the beauty of the little cottage before her.

"This Kohaku is your new home!" said Tsume spreading her arms as wide as she could.

"My…new home," Kohaku started to walk toward the house, her eyes always looking around at her new surroundings, "a...New life…where I can start fresh."

Tsume and Hana watched Kohaku as she walked toward the house wearing a smile that light up her small face.

"Are you sure this will be ok?" Hana asked.

"What do you mean?" Tsume looked back toward Hana with a confused expression on her face

"Well her twin brother is here."

"So?"

"So! So as she as she knows she will run to him and forget all about us!"

"Not exactly," said Tsume a sneaky little smile growing on her face.

"Mom, what are you planning?" Hana started to back off knowing that her mother can be really evil/crazy when she is planning something.

"Oh, it's nothing like that dear," replied Tsume, "All I am planning is that we do not tell Kohaku that her brother has moved here and instead wait until they meet at the chunin exams in two years."

"That way she may have a connection with us, so when she meets her brother she may not want to leave us for him," Hana immediately caught on to her mother's plan.

"That's right Hana, but it could be risky, she still could want to go to her brother and if she does we can't stop her from doing what she wants to do."

**SS**

While Hana and Tsume were talking about their amazing plan, Kohaku was examining her new house and the garden, trying to take in every small detail that her bright blue eyes could find.

"Kohaku wait up!" yelled Kiba as he ran as fast as his ten year old legs could take him to catch up to his new sister.

Kohaku immediately stopped and turned around waiting for Kiba to catch up to where she was. "I'm sorry Kiba-kun."

"It's ok," he said coming to a rest beside her, "you sure do walk fast when you want to Kohaku-chan," Kiba straightened up and smiled at the ten-year old girl.

Kohaku turned a nice pink when he said that and quickly looked at the ground, "Thank you Kiba-kun."

Kiba smiled at her blush and put his hand behind his head in an embarrassed like gesture. He watched as she slowly brought her gaze back up to look at him before smiling and looking around at his house. He saw her look towards the house with a longing gaze in her eyes, smiling he came up behind her as quietly as he could, "do you want to go into **our** house and look around?"

"Eep!" Kohaku jumped and turned around looking at him, her expression on of anger, "don't scare me like that!

Sorry, sorry," he brought his hands up almost like he was trying to protect himself, "but do you want to take a look inside?"

"Huh?" Kohaku tilted her head, "oh ok, sure I would love to see inside the house."

Kiba smiled a huge smile that looked to Kohaku that it took up his entire face. "Ok then, let's go!"

"Ok," Kohaku smiled at Kiba before following him toward the house.

As they began to walk closer and closer toward the house, Kohaku started to hear some sort of barking sound coming from the house, getting louder and louder.

As the sound continued to get louder and louder, Kohaku walked faster until she was walking beside Kiba, "Hey Kiba-kun?"

"What is it Kohaku-chan?"

"What is that noise?"She indicated toward the house with her head.

"Oh!"Kiba realised what she was talking about, "that noise is our dogs," he answered flashing a smile in Kohaku's direction, "Do you want to meet them?"

"D-dogs?" Kohaku replied looking to where she thought Kiba was.

But it was too late; Kiba had already run toward the front door of his house and was waving at her to try to get her attention.

"Wait Kiba-kun," Kohaku tried to stop Kiba from opening the door, but as soon as Kiba saw that he had her attention he turned toward the door and slowly pushed it open. All 5 of their dogs ran full speed toward Kohaku all trying to be the first one to make friends with the new occupant of the house.

"AHHHHHHHH!!" screamed Kohaku as the dogs charged toward her.

**SS**

"AHHHHHH!"

"What was that?" Hana and Tsume both turned toward the house where the scream came from.

Kohaku streaked past them in a flash of yellow. Before either of them could react their 5 dogs also ran past them barking their heads off making Kohaku scared even more. After a couple of seconds just when Tsume and Hana had finally digested what had happened, Kiba can running toward them screaming his head off.

"What happened Kiba?" boomed Tsume as she turned toward her son, her eyes blazing with anger.

"I'm sorry Kaa-san," Kiba came to a halt beside his mother and sister, "I just wanted her to meet the dogs."

Tsume eyes lost some of their anger as she looked toward her only son, "Well…I guess that's a good reason," Kiba brightened up, "But you still should have asked us first so that we could have calmed the dogs so that this would not have happened."

Kohaku screamed again adding on to Tsume side of the argument.

"I'm still sorry Kaa-san, I will not do it again," sweared Kiba looking at his mother.

"That's my boy," Tsumes face showed a proud expression, "but now I think we have to help Kohaku."

"Okay!"

The 3 Inuzuka's ran toward the new Inuzuka member, who was now slowly backing up toward a tree as their dogs started to close in. The dogs were slowly coming closer and closer, they were almost there when suddenly a trig snapped from the bushes. The dogs looked up and around toward the sound. In the bush Tsume and Hana looked toward the male of the family and glared, he ignored them.

The dogs' tails started wagging at once as they recognised who was behind the tree, the head dog; a black and white male dog that had an eye patch covering his right eye, which Kohaku thought was a battle scar, barked and leaded the other dogs towards the bushes. Kohaku leaned against the tree and sighed.

The dogs had found their owners; the head male dog and a pure white female dog ran straight towards Tsume, while 3 gray and white teenage dogs ran toward Hana showing the energy and spunk that only a young dog would have.

"Why were you chasing our new family member Kuromaru," Tsume looked towards the big dog.

He barked at Tsume, like he knew she could understand him. Tsume nodded her head every now and then. Kohaku who saw this realized that her new family, could just maybe, understand dogs.

"Kohaku." Kohaku's head shot up at hearing her name and saw that it was Tsume that had called to her.

"Yes, mom," she slowly walked away from the tree and toward the family.

Kohaku reached the family, Tsume smiled at her, "our dogs did not mean to scare you, they only wanted to meet you they are very sorry for scaring you."

'Yep, they can understand dogs.'

As to add to Tsumes apology the white female dog nudged her noise against Kohaku's hand and whined softly. Kohaku looked at the dog, which looked sincerely sorry for scaring Kohaku. She smiled softly at the dog before petting her head softly. The dog actually seemed to smile at her and Kohaku giggled at the thought.

Kiba slowly walked toward the two, "I'm very sorry for opening the door and letting the dogs come out and scare you."

Kohaku looked up at Kiba and blushed, "It's ok Kiba-kun, I don't mind."

Kiba smiled, "thank you!" He also blushed.

"Ok, Ok," Hana broke up the moment, "now that you have met the dogs, why don't you get to know their names."

"Ok!"

"I have these three dogs," Hana indicated toward the three gray and white young dogs who were sitting around her, "They are all siblings, Nyoko and Aneko are the two sisters," Hana pointed to the two smaller dogs, "and this one," she said pointing toward the biggest dog sitting in front of her, "is the male, Ginimaru." The three siblings barked in greeting to Kohaku.

'Ok now that one is Nyoko and this one is Ginimaru, no, no, that one is Aneko and this one is….Ak! It's so confusing!'

"You already know Kuromaru," Tsumes voice made Kohaku snap out of her thoughts and look toward Tsume and her dogs. Tsume was pointing toward the black and white head who barked happily in greeting. "Hi," Kohaku petted the dog and smiled. "And this young lady is named Yukiko," Tsume gestured toward the white female. "She is actually Kuromaru's mate and the mother of Hana's dogs."

"Wow," Kohaku looked toward the female dog that was happily wagging her tail and grimaced as she thought about having to give birth to that many children at one time.

"And, she was just had another litter of five puppies, they are in the house," Kohaku grimaced again, "Do you want to see them?"

"Ok," Kohaku let Kiba lead her toward the house.

Hana, Tsume and their dogs followed the two children inside the house, where Kiba had lead Kohaku through the living room and into the kitchen, where he opened a cupboard. Before Kohaku could adjust her eyes to the dark, Yukiko strode into the cupboard and blocked her view.

As Yukiko settled down into the cupboard, Kohaku saw flashes of white, gray and black fur surrounding Yukiko. As she took a closer look Kohaku could make out 5 tiny puppies wiggling all over their mother mewing softly, like they were talking to her.

"Aww, they are just soooo cute!" Kohaku leaned down to get a closer view of the puppies. In the litter there was 2 white ones, 2 black ones and a tiny, little gray one at the bottom of the litter.

"See that one," said Kiba pointing toward a little white one that was crawling all over his brothers and sisters to be the first one to his mother.

Kohaku giggled at the puppy's antics, "Yes I do."

"That one is going to be mine as soon as he grows old enough," boasted Kiba looking at the puppy with affection showing in his eyes, "I even have a name for him!"

"What's that?"

Kiba had a soft smile adorning his face as he watched the puppy, "Akamaru."

"Such a nice name," watched the puppies with a longing look on her face.

Suddenly Yukiko whined and Kohaku looked up at the dog, her face changing to worry, "is she ok?"

"Yes, she is just fine, but she says that you could have a puppy if you want to."

"Seriously," Kohaku's literally screamed her face turning to look into Tsume's coal black eyes.

Yukiko barked in response to Kohaku's scream. Kohaku turned her face back toward Yukiko's and saw through her eyes that she meant that. She smiled at Yukiko before looking back at the puppies studying each one to see which one would be the right one for her. Her eyes glanced toward one of the black puppies. She had glossy fur and a soft kind face, as the puppy opened her eyes, Kohaku noticed that the puppy's eyes were a beautiful sea colour.

She picked up the small pup, "can I have this one?" She cuddled the small puppy giving it her warmth

"Yes you must certainly can."

Kohaku smiled a tender smile toward her small pup, "what gender is it?"

"She's a little girl."

Kohaku looked at the puppy, "a girl huh?" She studied the puppy's face, "Ehime."

"Ehime."

"Yes Ehime," Kohaku looked at her puppy, now christened Ehime. "Do you like your name Ehime?"

Ehime in response to her new name jumped up in Kohaku's arms and started to lick her face. "Stop Ehime, bad girl," Kohaku waved her finger in Ehime's face trying to make the puppy behave.

"Hey, Kohaku."

"Yes," she turned around back to her new family

"For tomorrow, you are now going to join the academy."

"What is the academy?"

"It's where you are going to train to become a ninja," Kiba popped out of nowhere, "It's so cool."

"A ninja," Kohaku looked at Kiba with a shocked expression.

"Ya, and maybe, just maybe, you would be in my class," Kiba was jumping up and down with excitement.

"Would you like to become a ninja?" Tsume looked down at the young girl.

Kohaku looked between the two of them, thinking hard about what she wanted to become. She turned to Tsume, "I would love to train at the academy and become a ninja."

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**AN: Please review, you may get a cookie :) if it is a good reveiw!!**

**Ginimaru - means silver**

**Kuromaru - means black**

**Aneko - means older sister**

**Nyoko - means a gem**

**Yukiko - means snow child**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Graduation **

"Kaa…..Kaa….Haaaa!"

"Very good Kohaku, but make sure to work on your stances," a young teacher with forest green hair and coal black eyes corrected his students mistakes before walking to the next students, "very good everyone, next we are going to practice our weaponry."

"Hai, sensei!" a chorus of voices rang out from the crowd of students, before, as one, they grabbed some kunai and shuriken and walked over to the practice logs and dummies that were scattered around the training area.

**Thwack…..Thwack….Thwack**

"Good work students, Mesi keep your arms straighter," the teacher walked toward the 12 year old girl straightening her arms before continuing his walk watching the students as he passed them, "Jiro, your arms need to be more relaxed!"

"Hai, Keiji-sensei!"

The teacher now known as Keiji, swiftly walked his course around all of his students a couple more times making sure to tweak their mistakes and comment on their accomplishments.

"Ok students, that is enough for today, good job!" Keiji-sensei clapped his hands signalling to his students that they are dismissed for the day. They all ran into the classroom trying to be the first one packed and out the door.

"Wait a minute class," he called out stopping the young boy as he was just taking his first step out of the door and into freedom. "Don't forget that your graduation test is tomorrow, study hard you guys!"

"Hai, sensei!" The students waited just a couple more seconds to make sure that their sensei was finished talking and with a wave of his hand they were off, trying to find out who was the first students that would make it out of the doors and into the light.

"Hey Kohaku, slow down," the young 12 year old girl named Kohaku swiftly slowed down her walk and turned her body around. Her sapphire blue eyes coming to a rest on a young male about her age with shaggy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes that was running toward her.

"Hello Kiba-kun, where's Akamaru?" Just when Kohaku was asking the question a little white face popped out from under the young boy's jacket, the little dog gave a little bark as a greeting toward the young girl.

"Why hello there Akamaru," Kohaku petted the young dog in a greeting.

"Where's Yoshi?" Kiba turned his body to look behind Kohaku, "is she sleeping in your hood again?"

The girl nodded and put her finger to her lips, "yes she is so you have to be quiet!" she smiled behind her finger.

"Okay," agreed Kiba returning Kohaku's soft smile, "so are you excited for the graduation exams?"

Blue eyes suddenly looked down at the ground, "a little, I guess."

"Oh, don't be so bummed about it Kohaku-chan, you will do fine!" the young boy squatted down trying to make eye contact with the young girl.

"Ya… but I don't have all the training you have!"

"So what?" Kiba waved his hand almost like he was trying to diminish the subject, "you are still an awesome ninja and if they do not let you graduate than it is their loss!" Akamaru barked in response, "See even Akamaru agrees with me."

Kohaku let out a little giggle, "I guess your right Kiba, and I will just try my best and see what happens."

"Right," Kiba pumped his fist into the air, but the mood was interrupted when his stomach let out a low gurgling sound. Kiba's cheeks turned a light pink in embarrassment.

"I think you need some food Kiba-kun." Kohaku smiled up at him.

"You're right, I'm starving!" he put his arm on the back of his head trying to get rid of the embarrassment that was still eating him up alive.

"Then let's go home," Kohaku turned around breaking into a run, "race ya!" She called back from her shoulder wearing a grin about as big as her face, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

Kiba blinked... once... twice... three times, "hey wait a minute," he yelled, "no fair Kohaku, you got a head start!" Kohaku could only laugh, a joyous sound as Kiba continued to catch up to her yelling about how it was not fair to him at all.

Kiba continued to yell at Kohaku thinking that maybe if he yelled at her she would become so distracted that she would slow down just enough for him to catch up to her. They continued to run Kohaku always being just a couple of inches ahead of the now panting Kiba. As they got closer and closer to the gravel road that led them to their house, Kiba realized that no matter how much he tried to slow down the young girl he would never be able to beat her, just like those other times when they raced. Kohaku just seemed to have a gift for long distance running no matter how long or hard she ran she would never get tired, it annoyed and amazed the young boy. As Kiba turned the corner of their driveway he saw a sight that was very common to his eyes Kohaku sitting on the steps in front of their front door relaxing while petting the small black dog on her lap. When she saw him coming closer to the house she smiled, winked and held out the peace sign.

"It looks like I win again Kiba?"

He just smiled at her, "yes so how many wins is that now?" he approached her and stood in front of the young girl.

"Hmmm.." Kohaku faked thinking, "around 10 out of well..10," she shyly smiled at her friend.

"Heh heh you always seem to win Kohaku-chan it must be because you are so quick on your feet."

Kohaku ducked her head to hide her embarrassment, "thank you Kiba-kun," and before he could say anything else she ran inside letting the door bang shut behind her.

Kiba chuckled quietly before opening the door and following his sister inside the house the two puppies silently following behind him.

"How was school guys," a young women walked out from the doorway to the kitchen, her dark brown hair was up in a low ponytail while her apron and her face were covered in flour and sauces.

"It was good; we had a lot of training for our graduation exam tomorrow." Kohaku walked to the sofa and slowly sat down resting her muscles. Kiba walked in behind her and also sat down on the sofa beside her. Their two dogs jumped up onto their owner's laps snuggling down as they began to get petted.

"I cannot believe that you guys already have your graduation exams. I remember when I have mine, it seems like it was only yesterday."Hana tilted her head while her eyes began to mist over. Both of the children looked over at another shaking their heads immediately knowing that Hana was about to go over to the dream side.

"Nee-san," Kiba got up from the sofa slowly moving Akamaru off of his lap and onto a vacant spot on the sofa. He walked over to his sister and waved a hand over her eyes trying to snap his sister back into reality, "snap out of it nee-san you have to get back to the kitchen and the food."

Hana blinked her eyes a couple of times the mist slowly disappearing, she shook her head as reality finally snuck in. She swatted Kiba's hand away from her face, "okay okay I get it squat," Hana ruffled Kiba's hair making it even messier than it already was, "I wish you both luck on your exam tomorrow."

"Stop it nee-san," Kiba tried to move away from his sister's hand.

Hana just chuckled at her brother's antics before removing her hand from his head and walking back into the kitchen area.

**SS**

"Good luck today guys."

"You better graduate Kiba!"

'"I will mom!"

Hana and Tsume were standing on the porch watching the two young children walk towards their dreams.

They soon made it to the academy; walking up to the front doors and turning to each other. Sapphire eyes met chocolate.

"Good luck Kiba-kun."

"Good luck to you too Kohaku-chan."

After saying their good lucks, Kohaku turned toward the doors of the academy took a deep breath and starting to walk inside…. "Wait Kohaku-chan," Kiba's voice ran out before Kohaku felt something pull her back by the arm toward the place where Kiba was standing. Soon the something was replaced by two arms that were circling themselves around Kohaku as she found herself face first into something warm. She looked up and met warm brown eyes staring at her. Kohaku tried to jump up and away from Kiba but something kept her restrained, she looked behind her and saw Kiba's arms had encircled her waist. She met Kiba's face with her eyebrow raised.

"I-It's just a g-good luck hug," Kiba looked away from her face a small blush adorning his cheeks.

"Oh," Kohaku quietly brought her face down to hide the same blush that Kiba had growing on her face; her arms went around Kiba's side as she brought them to rest around his back. Kiba was the first one to slowly let go, Kohaku following soon after. They both just stood there awkwardly not daring to look in the other's eyes.

**Brriinngg!**

Both breathed a fresh breath of air, 'saved by the bell,' they both shyly looked up at each other, waved awkwardly and took their first steps into the academy each heading to different directions of the school.

**SS**

Kohaku was starting to breathe very heavy, her muscles screaming at her as a punishment to try and do more than she was capable of.

"Good job Kohaku-chan, nice movement," her teacher smiled at her before writing something down on the clipboard that he was holding very close to his body, away from the prying eyes of the students. "Ok, students that is the end of the weapon test, now on to the ninjutsu part of the exam."

The students lined up obediently waiting for their turn to show their sensei how much they deserve to be a ninja. Kohaku who was pushed to the front of the line was the first to go.

"Ok Kohaku, now transform into me."

"Hai…transform!"

A poof of smoke erupted in the classroom, after a couple of minutes the smoke slowly started to clear away revealing a duplicate of Keiji-sensei in the place where Kohaku was standing.

"Very good Kohaku," Keiji-sensei looked over the clone studying all the details put into the transformation, "Ok now make 2 clones of you please."

"Hai sensei," Kohaku dispelled the transformation leaving another cloud of smoke, but before the smoke could clear, another cloud of smoke was suddenly in its place, "Bunshin no jutsu." Out of the smoke stepped three identical Kohaku's each one looking just like the other one. Three pairs of shining blue eyes found the eyes of the sensei, watching as he looked over each of them slowly and carefully.

"Nice job Kohaku," he noted something down on his clipboard, sharing his notes with the other sensei standing next to him, also examining the graduation exams of their classroom. He nodded at Keiji-sensei's notes and whispered into his ear.

"Dispel," a cloud of smoke once again reappeared as the two clones puffed away leaving only the real Kohaku standing in front of the classroom.

"Congratulations, Kohaku-chan, we have decided that you have more than enough skills to fully become a genin." Keiji-sensei smiled down at the young child while the other teacher reached his hand behind his back to grab something. He pulled it out and handed it to the female.

Kohaku's eyes light up in joy as she saw what the sensei was holding out to her, a ninja headband, she slowly reached out to it, her small hand shaking nervously. She grabbed it, loving the way that it felt against her skin. "Arigato," she bowed politely to each of the senseis before turning around….and meeting 13 pairs of eyes on her.

Kohaku shivered under the gazes of her fellow students, her cheeks staining with a pink blush that was very slowly turning into a nice red. "Uh…um…" she stammered nervously as she watched each pair of eye look her up and down, trying to find anything wrong with her. After a couple of seconds the pairs of eyes watching her became to nerve wracking and Kohaku almost ran up the steps trying to get away from the glares of her classmates. When she finally reached her seat, she sighed in relief slouching down into the chair. She began to stare out the window not really paying attention to the rest of the student's skills.

**SS**

"..And Kohaku Uzumaki."

Kohaku's head jerked away from the window upon hearing her name being called. "Y-yes sensei."

Keiji-sensei's head turned toward the girl, "nothing Kohaku-chan, I was just telling you what teams you were being assigned to."

"Oh," Kohaku's head bent down in shame, "um...so what team am I in Keiji-sensei?" she almost whispered trying not to bring attention to herself.

Keiji-sensei sighed before again looking down at his keyboard, "Your teammates are Akira." A young boy slightly raised his hand signalling Kohaku of his presence. She turned her head to look at him; he was a very handsome boy with copper coloured hair flopping into his onyx eyes. Kohaku never really remembered seeing him before. Her sensei's voice slowly brought her back to him, "and also Kiba Inuzuka." Kohaku's eyes widened slightly, "Kiba-kun? Um...why is he in my team?"Keiji-sensei sighed once more, "Because if you were listening beforehand the other teachers and I decided to join our classes together for the teams. Please listen next time Kohaku-chan."

Kohaku's face started to heat up as the other students snickered at her silently, she slowly brought her head down trying to hide her embarrassment.

Keiji-sensei put down his clipboard – all of the teams names have already been called – and cleared his throat once more. "Now for your information, these teams have been chosen by grades. In each team there will be one very smart student, one near average, and finally one near the bottom – that way the team evens itself out." He headed towards the door, "oh and one more thing...good luck to you all." And with that said their old sensei walked out of the classroom. Immediately the class paired off into its teams.

"**HI! **My name is Akira. **What's yours?**"

Kohaku squeaked and turned around...there before her was one of her teammates. "H-hi, um, my name is Kohaku Uzumaki."

Akira smiled down at her before plopping in the seat next to her and moving quite close. "Nice to meet you Kohaku! You know you are very pretty!"

She blushed and quickly ducked her head, "um, thank you, um, Akira."

Akira was about to say something back, when the door slid open. The classroom turned quiet as Kiba walked through the door.

"Hey Kei, your team is looking for you."

A boy stood up from his seat, Kohaku noticed that he was one of the people that preferred to stay in the back of the class in the shadows. He did not have many friends, in fact as Kohaku thought about it she realized that she never saw him communicate with anyone inside the class. A young shadow slowly brought Kohaku out of her thoughts and she travelled her eyes up the person and figured out that it was Kiba standing in front of her, caught in a staring contest with the smiling Akira.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked the still smiling Akira

"**Hello!** My name is Akira and I am your teammate!" Akira nearly shouted at Kiba, "**I hope we can become friends!**" and with these words he thrust his hand out.

Kiba grimaced at the loudness of Akira's voice before slowly extending his hand to grab the other guys. But Akira didn't just shake Kiba's hand, oh no! Instead he widely moved Kiba's arm up and down until soon Kiba's entire body was shaking with the rhythm.

"Why hello again Kiba-kun," Kohaku decided to interfere before Kiba got hurt, "how did your exam go?"

Akira let Kiba go and both of the boys turned to look down at the only girl of the group, "I think I did really well Kohaku," he said slowly massaging his damaged wrist with his other hand, "I did though mess up on the shadow clones they looked healthy enough but I felt that they did not have the right amount of chakra to keep them for more than 5 seconds," Kiba dropped his head and raised his non-injured hand to rub the back of his head clearly showing his embarrassment.

"That's okay Kiba-kun, you still have lots of time to work on them, and soon I bet you will be able to do tons of shadow clones completely perfect," Kohaku smiled at Kiba trying to reassure her best friend.

"**Hey**! That's no fair Koha-chan, I also want to be talked nicely by you," Akira pouted and folded his arms.

Kohaku smiled at the childish actions of her new companion, "well Akira I really do not know enough about you to as you say "talk nicely to you."

"Oh…well I guess that is true," Akira's face changed as he realized the truth of the situation.

Kohaku just smiled at Akira before her eyes slightly widened and she gasped lightly, "Oh! That's right Kiba-kun can you pin on my headband for me?"

Kiba looked at his friend in confusion, "...sure I can Kohaku-chan...," he took the headband and pins from the young girl's fingertips, "were do you want me to pin it?"

"Hmmmm...oh I know...can you pin it onto my hood, but make sure that you pin it on so that when I wear my hood it is facing right-side up."

"Sure, just turn around so that I can reach your hood."

"Okay," Kohaku turned on her seat showing Kiba her white hood with black fur covering the brim. As Kiba bent down to pin on the headband Kohaku seemed to remember something, "Don't forget to not pin Yoshi she is still sleeping in there."

Kiba smiled as he bent to look into Kohaku's hood and saw two beady little green eyes staring up at him, the little animal yawned and moved her body into a more comfortable position, "Yoshi seems to love to sleep," Kiba stated as he went to work pinning Kohaku's headband onto her hood making sure not to pin the resting animal. As he worked Akamaru popped his head up from under Kiba's jacket and looked down on his sister giving a small bark of hello. Yoshi tilted her black head up to look at her brother slightly narrowing her eyes and giving him a small growl of warning before bringing her head down to once again drift away. Kiba slightly chuckled at this, "Yoshi sure likes to sleep a lot," he said as he finished his pinning and drawing himself back to his full height, "I'm done."

Kohaku turned back around, "thank you Kiba-kun," she smiled at him, "and yes it seems that I picked the laziest dog of the litter," she giggled as reached one of her hands into her hood to tenderly pet her companion.

"**Wait!"** said Akira, "you both have dogs?"

"Yeah...so?" Kiba asked confused by Akira's statement.

"So why do you both have ninja dogs, I thought that ninja dogs were only common to the Inuzuka family?"

"Um yes that is true Akira, you see um, well we are both from the Inuzuka family," confirmed Kohaku.

"Yes we are actually brother and sister."

Akira still looked confused, he brought his hand to scratch the top of his head, "so then why do you have the last name of Uzumaki Kohaku?"

"Oh…well about that," Kohaku struggled trying to find the right explanation, "um…you see…I...was actually adopted by the Inuzuka family when I was ten years old." Kohaku's hand subconsciously went to play with the pendant that she always wears.

'Seriously she always plays with that pendent whenever she talks about the orphanage; in fact she had it on when we adopted her. I wonder if it has some sort of special meaning. I have to ask her about that later at home?' Kiba was so lost in thought that he missed his new sensei walk into the classroom.

"Yo," was the first thing that he said as he walked into the classroom, "I am looking for my team. Is Akira Endo, Kohaku Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka here?"

Kiba felt someone lightly tap his shoulder, he shook his head to clear his thoughts before titling his head down to see Kohaku at his arm. "Our sensei is here now Kiba-kun, we have to go now." He nodded his head signing that he heard her and mouthed his thanks before following her and Akira out of the classroom. The new team followed their sensei walking straight into the woods; Kohaku looked around at their surroundings confused as to why he was leading them into the woods. She turned to her left and right sides and noticed that both of her teammates also have a confused look covering their faces. Soon they arrived in the middle of a clearing where their sensei stopped before he leant against one of the trees. He pointed toward the log in the middle, "Why don't you all sit down." The three children glanced nervously at each other before taking their seats on the fallen log. Kiba on the right side of Kohaku while Akira on the left.

Now that they finally stopped the children were able to get a good look at their new sensei. He had shoulder length brown hair and calculating matching brown eyes. He was wearing the typical Jonin outfit complete with a dark blue bandana matching the blue outfit underneath the forest green vest he was wearing. The only weird thing about him that they could figure out was the senbon he was holding in his mouth. They all stared at it confused about what it was doing in their sensei's mouth.

Kiba was the first one to break the silence, "why have you taken us here?" he asked staring at the man before them his body tensing up.

The man put a hand up to ease the younger boys' tension, "relax, I came here so that we could introduce ourselves to each other to get to know each other better."

Kiba slowly relaxed while Kohaku looked at their sensei, "um…sensei…" the man turned to the only female in the clearing, "um…so how do you want us to well…introduce ourselves."

"Well…that's start with your likes and dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies anything around that general area." His mouth turned upward in a small smile, "so who wants to go first?"

The three children looked at each other before they turned toward their sensei this time Akira spoke up, "why don't you start sensei?"

The man in question looked toward his new students all looking at his expectantly, "oh well," he said throwing his hands into the air, "I guess that I should show you what I mean." He found a more comfortable position against the tree before clearing his throat, "my name is Shiranui Genma. I don't really know if I should tell you anything personal about myself."

"**Hey! That's not fair**, if we are going to tell you stuff personal to us then so should you." Akira shouted. His two teammates nodded their heads in agreement.

Genma's eyes twinkled in amusement, "Okay okay, you don't have to yell at me about it. So….I like pumpkin broth and dislike spinach," at this Genma slightly cringed, "don't know what my dreams for the future are and my hobby is traveling around the world." Genma finished and gestured toward Kiba, "why don't you take it from there."

"Oh…okay," Kiba stood up a little straighter, "my name is Kiba Inuzuka. My likes are my dog Akamaru, my mother and my two sisters," at these words he stole a glance at the girl sitting beside him and saw that she was tenderly smiling at him his cheeks became lightly stained with pink, "my dislikes are anyone who treats animals and my family cruelty, my dream for the future are to become a great ninja like my father and my hobbies are walking, training and playing with Akamaru and playing with Kohaku."

Genma nodded his head in acceptance and looked toward Kohaku signalling that it was her turn to talk, "um…well…my name is Kohaku Uzumaki, and my likes are my real and adopted family, Yoshi…and all kinds of food!" at this she smiled widely showing her teeth, "my dislikes are rude and obnoxious people, people who think they are all that and um…humans who are mean to animals and other people who different. My dream for the future well…that's my secret," Kohaku once again reached up to finger her necklace, "and my hobbies are eating, playing with my dog Yoshi and Kiba-kun."

Akira spoke up before Genma had a chance to signal his turn, "**My name is Akira Endo** and my likes are the academy, eating sushi and my new teammate Kohaku," the girl in question blushed a deep pink trying to hide her face with her bangs while the boy on her right side looked over her bowed head and glared at Akira, Akira was too busy continuing to notice, "my dislikes are evil people that are setting out to change the world we live in. My dream for the future is to live through the week and my hobbies are cooking and training to become a better person.

Genma smiled at his odd little team before slowly easing off of the tree and now standing in front of his new students, "well now that we have got introductions made, meet me back here early tomorrow morning," he slowly walked away, "and don't be late." And at these words their new sensei slowly walked out of the forest one hand in his pocket and the other fingering the senbon in his mouth.

"**So**…what do we do now?" Akira asked his new teammates looking at their faces. Suddenly a low grumbling echoed throughout the forest and the female suddenly grabbed her stomach her face becoming a cherry red in her embarrassment. Akira and Kiba both looked at the girl before looking at each other before bursting into laughter.

"**Hey!**" Kohaku looked at her two teammates, "don't laugh at me…it's…it's not my fault that I'm hunger."

"But you're always hunger Kohaku," Kiba stated his laughter slowly calming down.

"It's…it's still not my fault, I'm a growing child I need my food."

Akira and Kiba still just chuckled at the female before they both stood up. Kohaku looked at them with her head slightly cocked to one side wordlessly showing her confusion. Both the 12 year old boys turned to their only female teammate and wordlessly, simultaneously held out their hands to her. Kohaku looked at the boys standing in front of her, "Wha?" she asked them. They looked at each other then back at her, Kiba spoke for them, "well since you are so hungry…why don't we get something to eat?" Kohaku looked at Akira who just nodded in agreement. "Okay…but only if we go and get some ramen at Ichiraku's." Both of the boys just nodded in agreement and held their hands even further out to her. The young girl smiled at the two boys before taking each of the hands in one of her own and allowing herself to be pulled up from the log.


End file.
